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EJToday: Top Headlines

EJToday is SEJ's selection of new and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. SEJ also offers a free e-mailed digest of the day's EJToday postings, called SEJ-beat. SEJ members are subscribed automatically, but may opt out here. Non-members may subscribe here. EJToday is also available via RSS feed. Please see Editorial Guidelines for EJToday content.

"Environmental groups on Tuesday urged the U.S. government not to grant Royal Dutch Shell final permits for Arctic oil exploration after an icebreaker with safety equipment to cap wells was put out of action."

"Hurricane Dolores is rapidly strengthening to a category 4 hurricane off Mexico's Pacific coast, with maximum sustained winds increasing to near 130 mph (209 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday."

"The nuclear agreement with Iran opens the way for a flood of new oil eventually to pour onto world markets, setting up a potential windfall for energy giants. But it will take a year or more before Iran can increase production significantly, delaying any impact on oil prices."

"SAN JUAN, P.R. — On an island that is flirting with default, fending off comparisons to Greece and losing its people to the mainland, the biggest problem most people face is something more elemental — one of the worst droughts in Puerto Rico’s history."

"Kyle Tisdel and Samantha Ruscavage-Barz sift through rocks beside a dusty road in New Mexico's high desert, searching for remnants of life a thousand years past. With the nearest meager town of Cuba an hour away, they're off the beaten path by any standard. But to them, these dirt roads surrounding Chaco Canyon are the front lines of a monumental battle pitting ancient Pueblo culture against the modern world's thirst for oil."

"The nation’s top pipeline regulator has taken too long to impose congressionally ordered safeguards, including changes that could have blunted the impact of a recent spill in California, lawmakers said Tuesday."

"Assurances from Enbridge Energy that the company's twin oil pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac are in 'excellent' condition and pose 'minimal' risks of a spill are not enough to resolve existing public concerns about the line's potential threat to the Great Lakes and Michigan's economy."

"A dirt trail shaded by ponderosa pines drops down the slope of this small canyon below the Los Alamos Nature Center and a recreation center. The canyon became a dumping ground during the Manhattan Project. Old pipes, washing machines, culverts and other debris from the era were tossed into the canyon by nearby homeowners and Los Alamos National Laboratory staff."

"This week, warnings of an impending 'mini ice age,' set to hit in the 2030s, have been circulating in the media. It’s a story that has caused shivers among the public, but there’s one problem: Climate scientists aren’t buying it."

"VIENNA — Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States have agreed to a historic accord to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions against Iran, a senior Western diplomat involved in the negotiations said on Tuesday."

"Governments should treat climate change as seriously as threats to national security or public health, partly by focusing more on the worst scenarios of rising temperatures, an international report said on Monday."

"Before Freddie Gray died of spinal injuries he received in police custody, sparking weeks of protest in his native Baltimore and around the country, he was a 'lead kid,' one of thousands of children in the city with toxic levels of lead in their blood from years of living in substandard housing -- and long-term health problems as a result."